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Everyone knew that Blizzard's new gaming title is highly anticipated, but we didn't think that it would enjoy a popularity of this scale. Blizzard announced that more than 9.7 million players tried the Overwatch Open Beta.

Blizzard had some very impressive stats to announce about the Open Beta of Overwatch, which was the company's biggest Open Beta ever. More than 37 million matches were created and participants played the game for more than 81 million hours - which is roughly 8 hours per person for all days the Beta lasted.

Needless to say, it is pretty certain that Overwatch is going to have tremendous success when it is released on May 24.

Blizzard Entertainment

OVERWATCH® IS BLIZZARD’S BIGGEST OPEN BETA EVER WITH 9.7 MILLION GLOBAL PLAYERS

IRVINE, Calif.—May 12, 2016—Blizzard Entertainment today announced that more than 9.7 million players around the world played its upcoming team-based shooter Overwatch® during the Open Beta for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and Windows® PC, making it Blizzard’s biggest open beta ever. By the time the Open Beta came to a close on May 10, participants had joined forces for more than 4.9 billion minutes (over 81 million hours) across more than 37 million matches of intense competitive action, incredible teamwork, and all-out fun.

“We're thrilled that such an incredible number of players from around the globe got a chance to check out Overwatch during the Open Beta,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Our mission was to make sure as many console and PC gamers as possible could experience the full game ahead of its launch—the response was overwhelming, and we hope that everyone had a blast.”

In Overwatch, players choose from a diverse cast of 21 heroes—each with their own unique arsenal of extraordinary weapons and incredible abilities—and team up to complete objectives on battlefields set in locations around the globe. Blizzard’s first-person shooter will arrive in stores on Windows PC, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, and Xbox One starting May 24. Heroes from around the world can join the coming conflict by pre-purchasing Overwatch today at www.playoverwatch.com/buy.

Overwatch will be available in English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, European Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean (PC only), Japanese (PC and PS4™ system only), and traditional and simplified Chinese (PC only). Overwatch has been rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

If you want to check some after-Beta impressions and statistics, after conducting the poll in r/Overwatch, GLHF posted a video with its results. You can find out which Hero was the most popular one in general and per role, which Heroes were considered overpowered or underpowered and which ones need a post-launch buff or nerf.

Currently, there is also another poll of similar nature in Overwatch's Reddit and you can find it here. Additionaly, feel free to share your experiences from the Open Beta with us in the comment section below!

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While its essentially a carbon copy of TF2 with expanded roles, this isn't a bad thing. TF2 was great. This is great. Modern FPS's have gotten such a cookie cutter, assembly line feel to them that the player hardly forms a connection with their games. But Blizzard has clearly put the time and effort into designing both maps and characters that have personality and aesthetic. When you play Junkrat you feel like a mad bomber. When you play reaper you feel like the shade of death.

Its nice that carrying your team doesn't necessarily entail getting the most kills, either. With the objective-based gameplay you can hop on a tank or a healer and be just as, if not more, useful as an assassin. And with the post-match recognition system they have, when players get accolades for most healing or damage blocked they're more likely to keep playing those support roles.

All of this lends to the immersion and is probably why players were averaging 8 hours a day during the last open beta.

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While its essentially a carbon copy of TF2 with expanded roles, this isn't a bad thing. TF2 was great. This is great. Modern FPS's have gotten such a cookie cutter, assembly line feel to them that the player hardly forms a connection with their games. But Blizzard has clearly put the time and effort into designing both maps and characters that have personality and aesthetic. When you play Junkrat you feel like a mad bomber. When you play reaper you feel like the shade of death.

Its nice that carrying your team doesn't necessarily entail getting the most kills, either. With the objective-based gameplay you can hop on a tank or a healer and be just as, if not more, useful as an assassin. And with the post-match recognition system they have, when players get accolades for most healing or damage blocked they're more likely to keep playing those support roles.

All of this lends to the immersion and is probably why players were averaging 8 hours a day during the last open beta.

What you have described here is exactly what was missing from World of Warcraft. When you stand at the front of your team as Reinhardt, you feel the immersion. You feel the teamplay right behind you. Your team is alive because of you, standing in front of them blocking the damage.

The game was just spectacular. It felt like the other Blizzard games used to and I really hope it is a sign of things returning to this style of immersion.

Overwatch gave me a feeling about the game that I haven't had while testing a game in a long time.

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WoW started to lose its immersion when they began to cater to the people who were leaving the game. Every major patch started to have a couple new "quality of life" gimmicks and it felt like the message was "please don't go" instead of "this is why you should stay". In Vanilla/BC/LK it felt like players had goals and things to aspire to. By the time WoD was halfway through, we were all hobbits; secluded and alone in our garrisons, queuing for LFR with random people from different servers who we'd never see again.

Yes 40 man raids were somewhat difficult to organize, especially on lower population servers. But you got to know your comrades. Guilds had their class and role hierarchy's where you could find mentors and apprentices. It felt more like the fantasy world we were all trying to be a part of.

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Today's PTR brings a lot of Hero tweaks and will be a pretty large download when it goes live, as it's a remaster. We're getting changes to D.Va, Orisa, Roadhog, Sigma, Winston, Baptiste, Lucio, Mercy, Moira, Doomfist, Sombra, Symmetra and Tracer, of varying significance.
PTR Patch September 24 (source)
ANNOUNCEMENT
Patch 1.41 is a remaster and will require a relatively large download for all platforms.
HERO UPDATES
D.Va
Defense Matrix
Regeneration rate increased from 12.5% to 16% per second
Delay before regeneration begins lowered from 1 second to 0.75 seconds
Orisa
Protective Barrier
Cooldown increased from 9 to 10 seconds
Roadhog
Scrap Gun
Ammunition increased from 5 to 6.
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
No longer blocks Chain Hook and Whip Shot
Gravitic Flux
High gravity effect duration reduced from 1.2 to 0.9 seconds
Experimental Barrier
Regeneration rate reduced from 175 to 150 per second
Now has a 1 second cooldown after recalling the barrier
Initial 0.2 second cast time removed
Winston
Barrier Projector
Duration increased from 6 to 9 seconds
Health increased from 600 to 700
Baptiste
Immortality Field
Health decreased from 250 to 200
Lucio
Crossfade
Speed boost’s effect increased from 20% to 25%
Amp It Up
Speed boost’s amplification increased from 50% to 60%
Wall Ride
Speed buff reduced from 40% to 30%
Mercy
Valkyrie
The extra beams created by Valkyrie now ignore enemy barriers
Moira
Biotic Grasp
Self-healing reduced from 30 to 20 health per second
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
Time to reach max charge increased from 1 to 1.4 seconds
The Best Defense…
Shield health gained per hit reduced from 35 to 30
Sombra
Translocator
Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds
Cooldown now begins immediately upon deploying the beacon or if it is killed by an enemy
Symmetra
Photon Barrier
Duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
Health reduced from 5000 to 4000
Sentry Turret
Damage per second reduced from 50 to 40
Photon Projector
Players impacted by the primary fire beam should now hear a louder impact sound
Tracer
Pulse Pistols
Damage falloff now starts at 13 meters, up from 10 meters
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a player profile issue preventing hero win percentages from being displayed for competitive arcade mode seasons
Heroes
Brigitte
Fixed a bug with Brigitte’s Rally checking line of sight from her feet instead of from her head
Fixed a bug with Inspire’s position being affected by the player’s aim pitch
Doomfist
Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist to use Meteor Strike before taking impact damage from Sigma’s Gravitic Flux
Sigma
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma’s Gravitic Flux to ignore line of sight through some ceilings
Sombra
Fixed a bug with EMP’s position being affected by player’s aim pitch
Winston
Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Barrier Projector to not consistently play its destroyed visual effects

Update: You can now also pre-order the game and get a free golden loot box, with a guaranteed legendary inside, as well as Widownmaker's Noire skin.

The Nintendo Switch will be receiving its second Blizzard game soon, as Overwatch will be arriving on the console on October 15th! It will come bundled with 15 skins and 3 months of Nintendo Switch Online membership, which is required to play the game.
October 15th will see the Heroes arrive to Nintendo's console.

We have more Sigma tuning in this edition of the PTR, with a whole lot of bug fixes for the new Hero as well as ones for Reinhardt, Sombra and Wrecking Ball.
PTR July 31 (source)
HERO UPDATES
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
Can now be cancelled by Accretion.
Experimental Barrier
Can now be recalled while Kinetic Grasp or Accretion are in use.
BUG FIXES
General
Placement previews should now be much smoother (Reaper Shadowstep, Mei Ice Wall, etc).
Placement previews will now hold their position after clicking, until they’ve been confirmed by the server.
Fixed a bug where first person animations sometimes wouldn’t play when abilities were used immediately after being frozen.
Fixed a bug where orientation toggles for placements could flicker at higher latencies (Ice Wall, Amplification Matrix, Photon Barrier).
Workshop - ‘Set Max Health’ now functions as intended.
Heroes
Reinhardt
Fixed a bug that caused charge knockback to be applied multiple times.
Sigma
Accretion now correctly deals half damage to self.
Accretion projectile no longer gets destroyed when impacting Symmetra turrets.
Gravitic Flux can now move Pharah during Rocket Barrage.
Fixed a bug where victims of Gravitic Flux could get stuck on slippery rooftops.
Fixed a bug where Gravitic Flux would fail to work on Dropship doors.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to avoid an enemy’s Gravitic Flux effect by activating his ultimate.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to retain some of his movement ability when he was incapacitated (stunned, slept, etc) during his Gravitic Flux.
Fixed a bug which caused Gravitic Flux to not be cancelled if you switch to another hero while it is active.
Sombra
Fixed a bug where Sombra couldn’t gain ultimate charge for one second after EMP hack auras end on targets.
Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug that could cause Wrecking Ball to be temporarily stuck when using Piledriver on a slippery terrain.

This particular PTR is getting plenty of updates and fast, as we have a small one today lowering Sigma's Kinetic Grasp cooldown and shield mechanic, nerfing Moira's Fade and fixing some bugs.
July 25 (source)
GENERAL UPDATES
Practice Range
Practice Range has been re-enabled.
HERO UPDATES
Moira
Fade
No longer usable while stunned.
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
Cooldown reduced from 15 to 13 seconds
Shield per damage conversion increased from 0.33 to 0.40
BUG FIXES
Heroes
Ashe
Fixed a bug where jumping while scoped shooting could cause the gun to clip into the camera slightly.
Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could get stuck in his slam animation if landing on very flat slippery surfaces.

We have two back-to-back PTR patches today, the first one featuring Hero 31 arriving for testing, endorsements coming to many alternative modes, Role Queue improvements and some more Workshop additions. The second patch brought several Hero changes, from D.Va's pilot ult cost reduction, to Symmetra's Teleporter cooldown decrease and more!
PTR July 23 (source)
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Hero: Sigma
Sigma is an eccentric astrophysicist and volatile tank who gained the power to control gravity in an orbital experiment gone wrong. Manipulated by Talon and deployed as a living weapon, Sigma’s presence on the battlefield cannot be ignored. Sigma launches two Hyperspheres (gravitic charges), which bounce off walls and implode after a short duration, damaging enemies within a sizable radius. Using Experimental Barrier, he propels a floating barrier to a location of his choosing and he can dismiss the barrier at any time. With Kinetic Grasp Sigma freezes incoming projectiles in midair, converting them into shields. Accretion allows Sigma to gather a mass of debris and flings it at an enemy to knock them down. Unleashing his full powers with Gravitic Flux, Sigma takes flight, lifts enemies in a targeted area, and launches them into the sky before slamming them back down. Learn more about Sigma on his hero page 2.
GENERAL UPDATES
Role Queue
Updated the end of match screen so that players are sorted by role.
Fixed a bug that made it difficult to see which Role Card was in focus when using a controller.
Quick Play (with Role Queue Enabled)
Feature Update: Endorsements
Players can now endorse each other in the following game modes:
Mystery Heroes
No Limits
Deathmatch
Total Mayhem
Low Grav
All the PVE Event game modes (Uprising, Retribution, Storm Rising)
Game Mode
Mystery Heroes - On Control maps, Heroes are now reset between rounds.
Workshop
New Events:
Player Dealt Healing
Player Received Healing
Player Joined Match
Player Left Match
New Actions:
Start Transforming Throttle
Stop Transforming Throttle
New Values:
Healer
Healee
Event Healing
Host Player
Developer Comment: A commonly requested feature for the Workshop is the ability to track healing, so we’ve added two new Event types and three new Values to make this possible. We’ve also added Events to make it easier to detect players joining and leaving matches. To support the creation of admin-style privileges for custom games, the owner of the game can now be detected using Host Player. Finally, we’ve added the ability to scale, invert, and rotate a player’s input throttle to make controlling characters in third person easier.
BUG FIXES
General
Custom Game: The Presets UI in Custom Game is now displayed in the proper order.
Heroes
Brigitte
Fix for Brigitte heal throws that were too loud.
Zenyatta
Fixed a delay in Zenyatta’s first person quick melee animation when interrupting primary fire.
Orisa
Fixed a bug that caused some VFX to stop playing upon successive viewings of Orisa’s “Oh!” highlight intro in Hero Gallery.
Genji
Fixed a bug where Genji could fail to deal damage if he rapidly used Swift Strike on a single target (PTR bug only).
Sombra
Fixed an animation issue with EMP (PTR bug only).

PTR July 24th (source)
GENERAL UPDATES
Practice Range
Practice Range has been temporarily disabled on PTR-only. For players looking to try out Sigma’s abilities in a solo setting, private Custom Games can still be made in the Game Browser.
Role Queue
Fixed a bug that caused the Ready button to be displayed when no roles had been selected, when using a controller.
Fixed a bug that could cause players to be on multiple regional leaderboards at the same time.
Fixed a bug that could cause players to appear on the Top 500 All leaderboard when 1 or more roles are still in placement matches.
Fixed a bug that caused players who allow the "Waiting on you to select role" timer to expire, to get into an unusable state if they were grouped in LFG.
Fixed a bug that prevented players from interacting with the role selection invite using a gamepad if inside the Play menu.
Fixed a bug where queue time wasn’t displayed properly while in skirmish.
HERO UPDATES
D.Va
D.Va Pilot ultimate cost reduced by 12%
Sombra
EMP
(Reworded from previous patch notes for clarity) Activation time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 seconds.
Symmetra
Teleporter
Cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 12 seconds
Teleport re-use time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1 second
Wrecking Ball
Minefield
Decreased projectile speed from 13 to 12.
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that prevented Competitive groups being found in LFG
Fix rare instances of ‘avoid as teammate’ not working
Heroes
Sigma
Fixed a bug where Gravitic Flux would do ground impact damage to training bots before they hit the ground.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to fire more than two Hyperspheres at once.
Fixed a bug that cause Sigma’s “Hello” voice line to not play.